Part of a series on
Jewish exodus from the Muslim world
Background
History of the Jews under Muslim rule Sephardi Mizrahi Yemeni Zionism Arab–Israeli conflict 1948 war Suez Crisis Six-Day War
Antisemitism in the Arab world
Farhud Aleppo Aden Oujda and Jerada Tripolitania Cairo Baghdad Tripoli
Exodus by country
Morocco Operation Mural Operation Yachin Egoz Yemen Iraq Egypt Lebanon Iran Tunisia Hurum air disaster
Remembrance
Awareness day JIMENA JJAC WOJAC The Forgotten Refugees
Related topics
Expulsions and exoduses of Jews Aliyah Historical Jewish population Islamic–Jewish relations
v t e

Part of a series on
Aliyah
Concepts
Promised Land Gathering of Israel Diaspora Negation Jews who remained in the Land of Israel Homeland for the Jewish people Zionism Jewish question Law of Return
Pre-Modern Aliyah
Return to Zion Old Yishuv Perushim
Aliyah in modern times
First Second during World War I Third Fourth Fifth Aliyah Bet Bricha from Muslim countries Yemen Iraq Morocco Lebanon from the Soviet Union post-Soviet from Poland from Ethiopia from Romania from Latin America
Absorption
Revival of the Hebrew language Hebraization of surnames Hebraization of place names Ulpan Kibbutz Youth village One Million Plan Immigrant camps Ma'abarot Development town Austerity
Organizations
World Zionist Organization Jewish National Fund Jewish Agency for Israel Youth Aliyah Mossad LeAliyah Bet El Al Ministry of Aliyah and Integration Nefesh B'Nefesh Am Yisrael Foundation
Related topics
Yishuv Sabra Yerida Jewish refugees History of the Jews in the Land of Israel Demographic history of Palestine (region) Historical Jewish population Yom HaAliyah
v t e

In the 20th century, approximately 900,000 Jews migrated, fled, or were expelled from Muslim-majority countries throughout Africa and Asia. Primarily a consequence of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the mass movement mainly transpired from 1948 to the early 1970s, with one final exodus of Iranian Jews occurring shortly after the Islamic Revolution in 1979–1980. An estimated 650,000 (72%) of these Jews resettled in Israel.^[1]

A number of small-scale Jewish migrations began in many countries of the Middle East in the early 20th century, with the only substantial aliyot (Jewish immigrations to the Land of Israel) coming from Yemen and Syria.^[2] Few Jews from Muslim countries immigrated during the existence of the British Mandate for Palestine.^[3] Prior to Israel's independence in 1948, approximately 800000 Jews were living on lands that now make up the Arab world. Of this figure, just under two-thirds lived in the French- and Italian-controlled regions of North Africa, 15–20% lived in the Kingdom of Iraq, approximately 10% lived in the Kingdom of Egypt, and approximately 7% lived in the Kingdom of Yemen. A further 200000 Jews lived in the Imperial State of Iran and the Republic of Turkey.

The first large-scale exoduses took place in the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from Iraq, Yemen, and Libya. In these cases, over 90% of the Jewish population left, despite the necessity of leaving their assets and properties behind.^[4] Between 1948 and 1951, 260000 Jews immigrated to Israel from Arab countries.^[5] In response, the Israeli government implemented policies to accommodate 600000 immigrants over a period of four years, doubling the country's Jewish population.^[6] This move encountered mixed reactions in the Knesset; in addition to some Israeli officials, there were those within the Jewish Agency who opposed promoting a large-scale emigration movement among Jews whose lives were not in immediate danger.^[6]

Later waves peaked at different times in different regions over the subsequent decades. The peak of the exodus from Egypt occurred in 1956, following the Suez Crisis. The emigrations from the other countries of North Africa peaked in the 1960s. Lebanon was the only Arab country that saw an increase in its Jewish population during this period, due to an influx of Jews from other Arab countries, though this was temporary—by the mid-1970s, the Jewish community of Lebanon had also dwindled. 600000 Jews from Arab and Muslim countries had relocated to Israel by 1972,^{[7][8][9][10]} while another 300000 migrated to France, the United States and Canada. Today, the descendants of Jews who immigrated to Israel from other Middle Eastern lands (known as Mizrahi Jews and Sephardic Jews) constitute more than half of the total Israeli population.^[11] In 2009, only 26000 Jews remained in Arab countries and Iran,^[12] as well as another 26000 in Turkey.^[13] By 2019, the total number of Jews in Arab countries and Iran had declined to 12,700,^[14] and in Turkey to 14,800.^[15]

The reasons for the exoduses are manifold, including: pull factors, such as the desire to fulfill Zionism, find a better economic status and a secure home in either Israel or Europe and the Americas, and the Israeli government's implementation of official policy in favour of the "One Million Plan" to focus on accommodating Jewish immigrants from Arab- and Muslim-majority countries;^[16] and push factors, such as antisemitism, persecution, and pogroms, political instability,^[17] poverty,^[17] and expulsion. The history of the exodus has been politicized, given its proposed relevance to the historical narrative of the Arab–Israeli conflict.^[18][19] When presenting the history, those who view the Jewish exodus as analogous to the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight generally emphasize the push factors and consider those who left to have been refugees, while those who oppose that view generally emphasize the pull factors and consider the Jews to have been willing immigrants.^[20]

Background

At the time of the Muslim conquests of the 7th century, ancient Jewish communities had existed in many parts of the Middle East and North Africa since Antiquity. Jews under Islamic rule were given the status of dhimmi, along with certain other pre-Islamic religious groups.^[21] As such, these groups were accorded certain rights as "People of the Book".

During waves of persecution in Medieval Europe, many Jews found refuge in Muslim lands,^[22] though in other times and places, Jews fled persecution in Muslim lands and found refuge in Christian lands.^[23] Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula were invited to settle in various parts of the Ottoman Empire, where they would often form a prosperous model minority of merchants acting as intermediaries for their Muslim rulers.

North Africa

French colonial rule

In the 19th century, Francization of Jews in the French colonial North Africa, due to the work of organizations such as the Alliance Israelite Universelle^[24] and French policies such as the Algerian citizenship decree of 1870,^[25] resulted in a separation of the community from the local Muslims.^[24][26]

France began its conquest of Algeria in 1830. The following century had a profound influence on the status of the Algerian Jews; following the 1870 Crémieux Decree, they were elevated from the protected minority dhimmi status to French citizens.^[27][28] The decree began a wave of Pied-Noir-led anti-Jewish protests (such as the 1897 anti-Jewish riots in Oran^[29]), which the Muslim community did not participate in, to the disappointment of the European agitators.^[30] Though there were also cases of Muslim-led anti-Jewish riots, such as in Constantine in 1934 when 34 Jews were killed.^[31]

Neighbouring Husainid Tunisia began to come under European influence in the late 1860s and became a French protectorate in 1881. Since the 1837 accession of Ahmed Bey,^[32] and continued by his successor Muhammed Bey,^[33] Tunisia's Jews were elevated within Tunisia society with improved freedom and security, which was confirmed and safeguarded during the French protectorate."^[34] Around a third of Tunisian Jews took French citizenship during the protectorate.^[35]

Morocco, which had remained independent during the 19th century, became a French protectorate in 1912. However, during less than half a century of colonization, the equilibrium between Jews and Muslims in Morocco was upset, and the Jewish community was again positioned between the colonisers and the Muslim majority.^[36] French penetration into Morocco between 1906 and 1912 created significant Morocco Muslim resentment, resulting in nationwide protests and military unrest. During the period a number of anti-European or anti-French protests extended to include anti-Jewish manifestations, such as in Casablanca, Oujda and Fes in 1907-08 and later in the 1912 Fes riots.^[37]

The situation in colonial Libya was similar; as in the French North African countries, the Italian influence in Libya was welcomed by the Jewish community, increasing their separation from the non-Jewish Libyans.^[38][39]

The Alliance Israélite Universelle, founded in France in 1860, set up schools in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia as early as 1863.^[40][41][42]

World War II

During World War II, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya came under Nazi or Vichy French occupation and their Jews were subject to various forms of persecution. In Libya, the Axis powers established labor camps to which many Jews were forcibly deported.^[43] In other areas Nazi propaganda targeted Arab populations to incite them against British or French rule.^[44] National Socialist propaganda contributed to the transfer of racial antisemitism to the Arab world and is likely to have unsettled Jewish communities.^[45] An anti-Jewish riot took place in Casablanca in 1942 in the wake of Operation Torch, where a local mob attacked the Jewish mellah. (Mellah is the Moroccan name for a Jewish ghetto.)^[46] However, according to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Dr. Haim Saadon, "Relatively good ties between Jews and Muslims in North Africa during World War II stand in stark contrast to the treatment of their co-religionists by gentiles in Europe."^[47]

From 1943 until the mid-1960s, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was an important foreign organization driving change and modernization in the North African Jewish community.^[48] It had initially become involved in the region whilst carrying out relief work during World War II.^[48]

Morocco

As in Tunisia and Algeria, Moroccan Jews did not face large scale expulsion or outright asset confiscation or any similar government persecution during the period of exile, and Zionist agents were relatively allowed freedom of action to encourage emigration.^[49]

In Morocco, the Vichy regime during World War II passed discriminatory laws against Jews; for example, Jews were no longer able to get any form of credit, Jews who had homes or businesses in European neighborhoods were expelled, and quotas were imposed limiting the percentage of Jews allowed to practice professions such as law and medicine to no more than two percent.^{[50][disputed – discuss]} King Mohammed V expressed his personal distaste for these laws, assuring Moroccan Jewish leaders that he would never lay a hand "upon either their persons or property". While there is no concrete evidence of him actually taking any actions to defend Morocco's Jews, it has been argued that he may have worked on their behalf behind the scenes.^[51][52]

In June 1948, soon after Israel was established and in the midst of the first Arab–Israeli war, violent anti-Jewish riots broke out in Oujda and Djerada, leading to deaths of 44 Jews. In 1948–49, after the massacres, 18000 Moroccan Jews left the country for Israel. Later, however, Jewish migration from Morocco slowed to a few thousand a year. Through the early 1950s, Zionist organizations encouraged immigration, particularly in the poorer south of the country, seeing Moroccan Jews as valuable contributors to the Jewish State:

The more I visited in these (Berber) villages and became acquainted with their Jewish inhabitants, the more I was convinced that these Jews constitute the best and most suitable human element for settlement in Israel's absorption centers. There were many positive aspects which I found among them: first and foremost, they all know (their agricultural) tasks, and their transfer to agricultural work in Israel will not involve physical and mental difficulties. They are satisfied with few (material needs), which will enable them to confront their early economic problems.

— Yehuda Grinker, The Emigration of Atlas Jews to Israel^[53]

Incidents of anti-Jewish violence continued through the 1950s, although French officials later stated that Moroccan Jews "had suffered comparatively fewer troubles than the wider European population" during the struggle for independence.^[54] In August 1953, riots broke out in the city of Oujda and resulted in the death of four Jews, including an 11-year-old girl.^[55] In the same month, French security forces prevented a mob from breaking into the Jewish mellah of Rabat.^[55] In 1954, a nationalist event in the town of Petitjean (known today as Sidi Kacem) turned into an anti-Jewish riot and resulted in the death of 6 Jewish merchants from Marrakesh.^[56] However, according to Francis Lacoste, French Resident-General in Morocco, "the ethnicity of the Petitjean victims was coincidental, terrorism rarely targeted Jews, and fears about their future were unwarranted."^[57]

In 1955, a mob broke into the Jewish mellah in Mazagan (known today as El Jadida) and caused its 1,700 Jewish residents to flee to the European quarters of the city. The houses of some 200 Jews were too badly damaged during the riots for them to return.^[58] In 1954, Mossad had established an undercover base in Morocco, sending agents and emissaries within a year to appraise the situation and organize continuous emigration.^[59] The operations were composed of five branches: self-defense, information and intelligence, illegal immigration, establishing contact, and public relations.^[60] Mossad chief Isser Harel visited the country in 1959 and 1960, reorganized the operations, and created a clandestine militia named the "Misgeret" ("framework").^[61]

Jewish emigration to Israel jumped from 8,171 people in 1954 to 24,994 in 1955, increasing further in 1956. Between 1955 and independence in 1956, 60000 Jews emigrated.^[59] On 7 April 1956, Morocco attained independence. Jews occupied several political positions, including three parliamentary seats and the cabinet position of Minister of Posts and Telegraphs. However, that minister, Leon Benzaquen, did not survive the first cabinet reshuffling, and no Jew was appointed again to a cabinet position.^[62] Although the relations with the Jewish community at the highest levels of government were cordial, these attitudes were not shared by the lower ranks of officialdom, which exhibited attitudes that ranged from traditional contempt to outright hostility.^[63] Morocco's increasing identification with the Arab world, and pressure on Jewish educational institutions to Arabize and conform culturally added to the fears of Moroccan Jews.^[63] Between 1956 and 1961, emigration to Israel was prohibited by law;^[59] clandestine emigration continued, and a further 18000 Jews left Morocco.^[64]

On 10 January 1961 the Egoz, a Mossad-leased ship carrying Jews attempting to emigrate undercover, sank off the northern coast of Morocco. According to Tad Szulc, the Misgeret commander in Morocco, Alex Gattmon, decided to precipitate a crisis on the back of the tragedy,^[65] consistent with Mossad Director Isser Harel's scenario that "a wedge had to be forced between the royal government and the Moroccan Jewish community and that anti-Hassan nationalists had to be used as leverage as well if a compromise over emigration was ever to be attained".^[66] A pamphlet agitating for illegal emigration, supposedly by an underground Zionist organization, was printed by Mossad and distributed throughout Morocco, causing the government to "hit the roof".^[67] These events prompted King Mohammed V to allow Jewish emigration, and over the three following years, more than 70000 Moroccan Jews left the country,^[68] primarily as a result of Operation Yachin.

In June 1961, reports surfaced regarding the continued removal of Jewish officials from prominent positions within the Moroccan government. M. Zaoui, the director of Conservation Fonciere in the Moroccan Finance Ministry, was dismissed without a specified reason. The extremist Muslim journal Al Oumal then launched a campaign against him, accusing him of Zionist affiliations. Earlier in the year, Meyer Toledano had also been removed from his role as judicial counselor to the Moroccan Foreign Ministry. Simultaneously, uneasiness arose among Moroccan Jews as they examined the 17 articles of the new "Fundamental Law" signed by King Hassan on June 2. Article 15, in particular, raised concerns, emphasizing Morocco's commitment to the Arab League and the intention to strengthen ties with it. Although the new law did not revoke the equal rights of Jews and Muslims in Morocco, it notably omitted the term "Jew," and the first two articles underscored Morocco as an Arab and Muslim country with Islam as the official state religion.^[69]

Operation Yachin was fronted by the New York-based Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS),^[70] who financed approximately $50 million of costs.^[71] HIAS provided an American cover for underground Israeli agents in Morocco, whose functions included organizing emigration, arming of Jewish Moroccan communities for self-defense and negotiations with the Moroccan government.^[72] By 1963, the Moroccan Interior Minister Colonel Oufkir and Mossad chief Meir Amit agreed to swap Israeli training of Moroccan security services and some covert military assistance for intelligence on Arab affairs and continued Jewish emigration.^[73]

By 1967, only 50000 Jews remained.^[74] The 1967 Six-Day War led to increased Arab–Jewish tensions worldwide, including in Morocco, and significant Jewish emigration out of the country continued. By the early 1970s, the Jewish population of Morocco fell to 25000; however, most of the emigrants went to France, Belgium, Spain, and Canada, rather than Israel.^[74]

According to Esther Benbassa, the migration of Jews from the North African countries was prompted by uncertainty about the future.^[75] In 1948, 250000^[76]–265000^[77] Jews lived in Morocco. By 2001, an estimated 5,230 remained.^{[78][better source needed]}

Despite their dwindling numbers, Jews continue to play a notable role in Morocco; the King retains a Jewish senior adviser, André Azoulay, and Jewish schools and synagogues receive government subsidies. Despite this, Jewish targets have sometimes been attacked (notably the 2003 bombing attacks on a Jewish community center in Casablanca), and there is sporadic antisemitic rhetoric from radical Islamist groups. Tens of thousands of Israeli Jews with Moroccan heritage visit Morocco every year, especially around Rosh Hashana or Passover,^[79] although few have taken up the late King Hassan II's offer to return and settle in Morocco.^{[citation needed]}

Algeria

As in Tunisia and Morocco, Algerian Jews did not face large scale expulsion or outright asset confiscation or any similar government persecution during the period of exile, and Zionist agents were relatively allowed freedom of action to encourage emigration.^[49]

Jewish emigration from Algeria was part of a wider ending of French colonial control and the related social, economic and cultural changes.^[80]

The Israeli government had been successful in encouraging Morocco and Tunisian Jews to emigrate to Israel, but were less so in Algeria. Despite offers of visa and economic subsidies, only 580 Jews moved from Algeria to Israel in 1954–55.^[81]

Emigration peaked during the Algerian War of 1954–1962, during which thousands of Muslims, Christians and Jews left the country,^[82] particularly the Pied-Noir community. In 1956, Mossad agents worked underground to organize and arm the Jews of Constantine, who comprised approximately half the Jewish population of the country.^[83] In Oran, a Jewish counter-insurgency movement was thought to have been trained by former members of Irgun.^[84]

As of the last French census in Algeria, taken on 1 June 1960, there were 1050000 non-Muslim civilians in Algeria, constituting 10 percent of the total population; this included 130000 Algerian Jews.^[85] After Algeria became independent in 1962, about 800000 Pieds-Noirs (including Jews) were evacuated to mainland France while about 200000 chose to remain in Algeria. Of the latter, there were still about 100000 in 1965 and about 50000 by the end of the 1960s.^[86]

As the Algerian Revolution intensified from the late 1950s onward, most of Algeria's 140000 Jews began to leave.^[87] The community had lived mainly in Algiers and Blida, Constantine, and Oran.

Almost all Jews of Algeria left upon independence in 1962, particularly as "the Algerian Nationality Code of 1963 excluded non-Muslims from acquiring citizenship",^[88] allowing citizenship only to those Algerians who had Muslim fathers and paternal grandfathers.^[89] Algeria's 140000 Jews, who had French citizenship since 1870 (briefly revoked by Vichy France in 1940) left mostly for France, although some went to Israel.^[90]

The Great Synagogue of Algiers was consequently abandoned after 1994.^{[citation needed]}

Jewish migration from North Africa to France led to the rejuvenation of the French Jewish community, which is now the third largest in the world.

Tunisia

As in Morocco and Algeria, Tunisian Jews did not face large scale expulsion or outright asset confiscation or any similar government persecution during the period of exile, and Jewish emigration societes were relatively allowed freedom of action to encourage emigration.^[49]

In 1948, approximately 105000 Jews lived in Tunisia.^[91] About 1500 remain today, mostly in Djerba, Tunis, and Zarzis. Following Tunisia's independence from France in 1956 emigration of the Jewish population to Israel and France accelerated.^[91] After attacks in 1967, Jewish emigration both to Israel and France accelerated. There were also attacks in 1982, in 1985 following Israel's Operation Wooden Leg,^[92][93] and most recently in 2002 when a bombing in Djerba took 21 lives (most of them German tourists) near the local synagogue, a terrorist attack claimed by Al-Qaeda.

Libya

According to Maurice Roumani, a Libyan emigrant who was previously the executive director of WOJAC,^[94] the most important factors that influenced the Libyan Jewish community to emigrate were "the scars left from the last years of the Italian occupation and the entry of the British Military in 1943 accompanied by the Jewish Palestinian soldiers".^[95]

Zionist emissaries, so-called shlichim, had begun arriving in Libya in the early 1940s, with the intention to "transform the community and transfer it to Palestine".^[96] In 1943, Mossad LeAliyah Bet began to send emissaries to prepare the infrastructure for the emigration of the Libyan Jewish community.^[97]

In 1942, German troops fighting the Allies in North Africa occupied the Jewish quarter of Benghazi, plundering shops and deporting more than 2,000 Jews across the desert. Sent to work in labor camps, more than one-fifth of that group of Jews perished. At the time, most Libyan Jews lived in the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi; there were smaller numbers in Bayda and Misrata.^[43] Following the Allied victory at the Battle of El Agheila in December 1942, German and Italian troops were driven out of Libya. The British assigned as garrison in Cyrenaica the Palestine Regiment. This unit later became the core of the Jewish Brigade, which was later also stationed in Tripolitania. The pro-Zionist soldiers encouraged the spread of Zionism throughout the local Jewish population^{[98][99][100]}

Following the liberation of North Africa by Allied forces, antisemitic incitements were still widespread. The most severe racial violence between the start of World War II and the establishment of Israel erupted in Tripoli in November 1945. Over a period of several days more than 140 Jews (including 36 children) were killed, hundreds were injured, 4,000 were displaced and 2,400 were reduced to poverty. Five synagogues in Tripoli and four in provincial towns were destroyed, and over 1,000 Jewish residences and commercial buildings were plundered in Tripoli alone.^[101] Gil Shefler writes that "As awful as the pogrom in Libya was, it was still a relatively isolated occurrence compared to the mass murders of Jews by locals in Eastern Europe."^[47] The same year, violent anti-Jewish violence also occurred in Cairo, which resulted in 10 Jewish victims.

In 1948, about 38000 Jews lived in Libya.^[77][102] The pogroms continued in June 1948, when 15 Jews were killed and 280 Jewish homes destroyed.^[103] In November 1948, a few months after the events in Tripoli, the American consul in Tripoli, Orray Taft Jr., reported that: "There is reason to believe that the Jewish Community has become more aggressive as the result of the Jewish victories in Palestine. There is also reason to believe that the community here is receiving instructions and guidance from the State of Israel. Whether or not the change in attitude is the result of instructions or a progressive aggressiveness is hard to determine. Even with the aggressiveness or perhaps because of it, both Jewish and Arab leaders inform me that the inter-racial relations are better now than they have been for several years and that understanding, tolerance and cooperation are present at any top level meeting between the leaders of the two communities."^[104][105]

Immigration to Israel began in 1949, following the establishment of a Jewish Agency for Israel office in Tripoli. According to Harvey E. Goldberg, "a number of Libyan Jews" believe that the Jewish Agency was behind the riots, given that the riots helped them achieve their goal.^[106] Between the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and Libyan independence in December 1951 over 30000 Libyan Jews emigrated to Israel.

On 31 December 1958, the President of the Executive Council of Tripolitania ordered the dissolution of the Jewish Community Council and the appointment of a Muslim commissioner nominated by the Government. A law issued in 1961 required Libyan citizenship for the possession and transfer of property in Libya, a requirement that was met by only six Libyan Jews. Jews were banned from voting, attaining public offices and from serving in the army or in police.^{[citation needed]}

In 1967, during the Six-Day War, the Jewish population of over 4,000 was again subjected to riots in which 18 were killed and many more injured. The pro-Western Libyan government of King Idris tried unsuccessfully to maintain law and order. On 17 June 1967, Lillo Arbib, leader of the Jewish community in Libya, sent a formal request to Libyan prime minister Hussein Maziq requesting that the government "allow Jews so desiring to leave the country for a time, until tempers cool and the Libyan population understands the position of Libyan Jews, who have always been and will continue to be loyal to the State, in full harmony and peaceful coexistence with the Arab citizens at all times."^[107]

According to David Harris, the executive director of the Jewish advocacy organization AJC, the Libyan government "faced with a complete breakdown of law and order ... urged the Jews to leave the country temporarily", permitting them each to take one suitcase and the equivalent of $50. Through an airlift and the aid of several ships, over 4,000 Libyan Jews were evacuated to Italy by the Italian Navy, where they were assisted by the Jewish Agency for Israel. Of the Jews evacuated, 1,300 subsequently immigrated to Israel, 2,200 remained in Italy, and most of the rest went to the United States. A few scores remained in Libya. Some Libyan Jews who had been evacuated temporarily returned to Libya between 1967 and 1969 in an attempt to recover lost property.^[108][109] In September 1967 only 100 Jews remained in Libya,^[107] falling to less than 40 five years later in 1972 and just 16 by 1977.^[110]

On 21 July 1970 the Libyan government issued a law which confiscated assets of the Jews who had previously left Libya,^[111] issuing in their stead 15-year bonds. However, when the bonds matured in 1985 no compensation was paid.^[112] Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi later justified this on the grounds that "the alignment of the Jews with Israel, the Arab nations' enemy, has forfeited their right to compensation."^[112]

Although the main synagogue in Tripoli was renovated in 1999, it has not reopened for services. In 2002, Esmeralda Meghnagi, who was thought to be the last Jew in Libya, died. However, that same year, it was discovered that Rina Debach, an 80-year old Jewish woman who was thought to be dead by her family in Rome, was still alive and living in a nursing home in the country. With her subsequent departure for Rome, there were no more Jews left in Libya.

Israel is home to a significant population of Jews of Libyan descent, who maintain their unique traditions. Jews of Libyan descent also make up a significant part of the Italian Jewish community. About 30% of the registered Jewish population of Rome is of Libyan origin.^[113]

Middle East

Iraq

1930s and early 1940s

The British mandate over Iraq came to an end in June 1930, and in October 1932 the country became independent. The Iraqi government response to the demand of Assyrian autonomy (the Assyrians being the indigenous Eastern Aramaic-speaking Semitic descendants of the ancient Assyrians and Mesopotamians, and largely affiliated to the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church and Syriac Orthodox Church), turned into a bloody massacre of Assyrian villagers by the Iraqi army in August 1933.^[114]

This event was the first sign to the Jewish community that minority rights were meaningless under the Iraqi monarchy. King Faisal, known for his liberal policies, died in September 1933, and was succeeded by Ghazi, his nationalistic anti-British son. Ghazi began promoting Arab nationalist organizations, headed by Syrian and Palestinian exiles. With the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine, they were joined by rebels, such as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. The exiles preached pan-Arab ideology and fostered anti-Zionist propaganda.^[114]

Under Iraqi nationalists, Nazi propaganda began to infiltrate the country, as Nazi Germany was anxious to expand its influence in the Arab world. Dr. Fritz Grobba, who resided in Iraq since 1932, began to vigorously and systematically disseminate hateful propaganda against Jews. Among other things, Arabic translation of Mein Kampf was published and Radio Berlin had begun broadcasting in Arabic language. Anti-Jewish policies had been implemented since 1934, and the confidence of Jews was further shaken by the growing crisis in Palestine in 1936. Between 1936 and 1939 ten Jews were murdered and on eight occasions bombs were thrown on Jewish locations.^[115]

In 1941, immediately following the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War, riots known as the Farhud broke out in Baghdad in the power vacuum following the collapse of the pro-Axis government of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani while the city was in a state of instability. 180 Jews were killed and another 240 wounded; 586 Jewish-owned businesses were looted and 99 Jewish houses were destroyed.^[116]

In some accounts the Farhud marked the turning point for Iraq's Jews.^{[117][118][119]} Other historians, however, see the pivotal moment for the Iraqi Jewish community much later, between 1948 and 1951, since Jewish communities prospered along with the rest of the country throughout most of the 1940s,^{[120][121][122]} and many Jews who left Iraq following the Farhud returned to the country shortly thereafter and permanent emigration did not accelerate significantly until 1950–51.^[121][123]

Either way, the Farhud is broadly understood to mark the start of a process of politicization of the Iraqi Jews in the 1940s, primarily among the younger population, especially as a result of the impact it had on hopes of long term integration into Iraqi society. In the direct aftermath of the Farhud, many joined the Iraqi Communist Party in order to protect the Jews of Baghdad, yet they did not want to leave the country and rather sought to fight for better conditions in Iraq itself.^[124] At the same time the Iraqi government that had taken over after the Farhud reassured the Iraqi Jewish community, and normal life soon returned to Baghdad, which saw a marked betterment of its economic situation during World War II.^[125][126]

Shortly after the Farhud in 1941, Mossad LeAliyah Bet sent emissaries to Iraq to begin to organize emigration to Israel, initially by recruiting people to teach Hebrew and hold lectures on Zionism. In 1942, Shaul Avigur, head of Mossad LeAliyah Bet, entered Iraq undercover in order to survey the situation of the Iraqi Jews with respect to immigration to Israel.^[127] During the 1942–43, Avigur made four further trips to Baghdad to arrange the required Mossad machinery, including a radio transmitter for sending information to Tel Aviv, which remained in use for 8 years.^[128]

In late 1942, one of the emissaries explained the size of their task of converting the Iraqi community to Zionism, writing that "we have to admit that there is not much point in organizing and encouraging emigration. ... We are today eating the fruit of many years of neglect, and what we didn't do can't be corrected now through propaganda and creating one-day-old enthusiasm."^[129] It was not until 1947 that legal and illegal departures from Iraq to Israel began.^[130] Around 8000 Jews left Iraq between 1919 and 1948, with another 2000 leaving between mid-1948 to mid-1950.^[123]

1948 Arab–Israeli War

In 1948, there were approximately 150000 Jews in Iraq. The community was concentrated in Baghdad and Basra.

A few months before the UN vote on partition of Palestine, Iraq's prime minister Nuri al-Said told British diplomat Douglas Busk that he had nothing against the Iraqi Jews who were a long established and useful community. However, if the United Nations solution was not satisfactory, the Arab League might decide on severe measures against the Jews in Arab countries, and he would be unable to resist the proposal.^[131][132] In a speech at the General Assembly Hall at Flushing Meadow, New York, on Friday, 28 November 1947, Iraq's Foreign Minister, Fadel Jamall, included the following statement: "Partition imposed against the will of the majority of the people will jeopardize peace and harmony in the Middle East. Not only the uprising of the Arabs of Palestine is to be expected, but the masses in the Arab world cannot be restrained. The Arab–Jewish relationship in the Arab world will greatly deteriorate. There are more Jews in the Arab world outside of Palestine than there are in Palestine. In Iraq alone, we have about one hundred and fifty thousand Jews who share with Moslems and Christians all the advantages of political and economic rights. Harmony prevails among Moslems, Christians and Jews. But any injustice imposed upon the Arabs of Palestine will disturb the harmony among Jews and non-Jews in Iraq; it will breed inter-religious prejudice and hatred."^[133]

On 19 February 1949, al-Said acknowledged the bad treatment that the Jews had been victims of in Iraq during the recent months. He warned that unless Israel would behave itself, events might take place concerning the Iraqi Jews.^[134] Al-Said's threats had no impact at the political level on the fate of the Jews but were widely published in the media.^[135]

In 1948, the country was placed under martial law, and the penalties for Zionism were increased. Courts martial were used to intimidate wealthy Jews, Jews were again dismissed from civil service, quotas were placed on university positions, Jewish businesses were boycotted (E. Black, p. 347) and Shafiq Ades, one of the most important Jewish businessmen in the country (who was non-Zionist) was arrested and publicly hanged for allegedly selling goods to Israel. The Jewish community's general sentiment was that if a man as well connected and powerful as Ades could be eliminated by the state, other Jews would not be protected any longer.^[136]

Additionally, like most Arab League states, Iraq forbade any legal emigration of its Jews after the 1948 war on the grounds that they might go to Israel and could strengthen that state. At the same time, increasing government oppression of the Jews fueled by anti-Israeli sentiment together with public expressions of antisemitism created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.

However, by 1949 Jews were escaping Iraq at about a rate of 1000 a month.^[137] At the time, the British believed that the Zionist underground was agitating in Iraq in order to assist US fund-raising and to "offset the bad impression caused by the Jewish attitudes to Arab refugees".^[138]

The Iraqi government took in only 5000 of the approximately 700000 Palestinians who became refugees in 1948–49, "despite British and American efforts to persuade Iraq" to admit more.^[139] In January 1949, the pro-British Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said discussed the idea of deporting Iraqi Jews to Israel with British officials, who explained that such a proposal would benefit Israel and adversely affect Arab countries.^{[140][141][142]} According to Meir-Glitzenstein, such suggestions were "not intended to solve either the problem of the Palestinian Arab refugees or the problem of the Jewish minority in Iraq, but to torpedo plans to resettle Palestinian Arab refugees in Iraq".^[143]

In July 1949 the British government proposed to Nuri al-Said a population exchange in which Iraq would agree to settle 100000 Palestinian refugees in Iraq; Nuri stated that if a fair arrangement could be agreed, "the Iraqi government would permit a voluntary move by Iraqi Jews to Palestine."^[144] The Iraqi-British proposal was reported in the press in October 1949.^[145]

On 14 October 1949 Nuri al-Said raised the exchange of population concept with the economic mission survey.^[146] At the Jewish Studies Conference in Melbourne in 2002, Philip Mendes summarised the effect of al-Said's vacillations on Jewish expulsion as: "In addition, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said tentatively canvassed and then shelved the possibility of expelling the Iraqi Jews, and exchanging them for an equal number of Palestinian Arabs."^[20]

Temporary legalization of Jewish immigration to Israel

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Jewish_exodus_from_Arab_and_Muslim_countries
Text je dostupný za podmienok Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 Unported; prípadne za ďalších podmienok. Podrobnejšie informácie nájdete na stránke Podmienky použitia.

---